Las Vegas Shooting Person of Interest Who Said He Sold Stephen Paddock Bullets Facing Charges

Douglas Haig, an employee at an aerospace company in Arizona, is facing charges stemming from the investigation into the mass shooting in Las Vegas in October. Haig spoke with Newsweek days after the shooting and denied any involvement.

Haig was charged on Friday with illegally manufacturing and selling armor-piercing bullets, according to court records. Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas gunman, is believed to have purchased those bullets from Haig.

On October 1, Paddock fired on a crowd gathered below his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, killing 58 and wounding hundreds. He killed himself before police could apprehend him.

Three days later, Newsweek spoke with Haig, who lives in Mesa, Arizona. Haig said agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives had visited him. He said he “used to sell ammunition reloading components,” but he repeatedly said he did not know Paddock or why law enforcement was interested in him. “It could have been a business card from a year ago, two years ago, who knows?” he said. “[Paddock] might have had one of my cards and wrote something on the back of it that they found in his house.”

Mourners in Las Vegas attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the October 1, 2017, shooting in that city the following day. On February 2, Douglas Haig was charged in connection with the shooting. Drew Angerer/Getty

Newsweek did not publish details from the interview until Tuesday, after the Review-Journal named Haig publicly for the first time. Andrew Marcantel, Haig’s lawyer, told Newsweek on Tuesday, “He’s been 100 percent compliant.”

But after the initial reports about Haig in Newsweek and the Review-Journal, Haig told the Las Vegas outlet, “I’m the guy that sold ammunition to Stephen Paddock.” He met with Paddock once but did not know the man, he added.